‘Do the Right Thing’ turns 25

Twenty-five years ago today, civilization didn’t fall. There wasn’t rioting in the streets. A race war didn’t erupt in major cities throughout the country. Life as we knew it didn’t cease to exist.

What happened was … one of the greatest movies of all time was released. The third major Spike Lee joint, Do the Right Thing, debuted in theaters on June 30, 1989. While I hold this movie in the highest regard, it might be tempting to say, “oh yeah, that’s just your opinion.” But just as a for instance, both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert picked it as the top film of that year, and later chose it as one of the tops of the decade.

It scores a whopping 96 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the website that aggregates critics’ reviews. Sight and Sound’s famed list of the top 250 movies ever made has it tied at 127. And let’s not forget a certain fabled first date to see the masterpiece by none other than Barry Obama and Michelle Robinson back in Chicago.

Need I even remind you about Kim Basinger, brought out onto the Academy Awards stage the next year to introduce Dead Poets Society as one of the movies nominated for best picture, vehemently chastising the Academy for not even nominating Do the Right Thing for the same honor? (It did score nods for best original screenplay and best supporting actor for Danny Aiello) And should I confess that, courtesy of a friend who worked at a video store (ask your parents, kids) around that time, I soon possessed a floor to ceiling replica of the iconic movie poster seen to the right on my bedroom wall?

No, the best way to acknowledge this milestone is to see it again in all its vibrant, raucous, stylized, realistic, overstuffed, never-seen-before glory. If, however you haven’t yet seen this comedic drama where a Brooklyn pizzeria’s absence of photos depicting African American celebrities is merely the catalyst that ignites the powder keg of long-simmering racial tensions on the hottest day of the year, I pity you, and am jealous of you. You get to experience it for the first time. Rent it, download it, stream it, borrow it, watch it.

It forever lands in my ever-changing top ten movies of all time list.

CJ Lais

Comments are closed.

Note: The Times Union is not responsible for posts and comments written by non-staff members.